If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Can catnip cause urinating?

I have 2 cats. They are brother and sister and about 15 1/2 years old.
The male has been diabetic for about 8 years and other then being fat
is doing pretty good. I give him two shots a day.

The female has shown very early signs of kidney disease but nothing bad
yet. Here is the problem. About a year ago for the first time in her
life she urinated on the carpet in the family room. I had her checked
out and she had a urinary tract infection. I gave her meds and it
cleared up. A few months later she urinated on the carpet a few more
times. I had her checked out and she was fine. A month or so ago it
started happening frequently. I had the vet check her out and I even
shelled out $275 for an ultra sound. The blood tests all came back fine
and the ultra sound looked ok too. Its been about 3 weeks since she was
at the vet and she hasn't had an accident since then.

There have been no stressful changes in her life. She has lived in same
house with her brother for 8 years. I keep the litter box clean at all
times and added a second litter box too. I have been racking my brain
trying to think of anything that might be causing her to go outside the
litter box. She always uses the litter box to move her bowels. She
only has "accidents" urinating

A year or two ago somebody gave me two soft pads that the cats could lay
on. Those mats had catnip in them and Betty my female at kept urinating
on them and I eventually took them off the floor so they couldn't use
them anymore. I have always left a few toys on the floor in the family
room that are soft and when they were bought had catnip in them. I have
had those toys literally for years but my male cat Barney likes using
them as a pillow so I never threw them away.

I started wondering if there was a link between Bettys urinating on the
carpet and the catnip smell in the toys even though the catnip shouldn't
even exist anymore after all these years. I decided to pick up all the
toys and left nothing on the carpet in that room. She has not urinated
on the carpet in the three weeks since I picked up those very old toys.

The bottom line is has anybody every heard of catnip in anyway causing
cats to urinate where they usually do not? I hope this all makes sense

Yes the smell of catnip will always be on the toys unless you chemical
bleach them. And I heard of catnip causing a cat to urinate catnip here is
how to think of a cat they are each unique just like humans they will all
react differently
I grow my own catnip it grows like a weed ought to see cats with fresh
catnip

The multiple posted (ASCII) parts of the FAQ are all archived at
rtfm.mit.edu
(18.181.0.24) in the directory /pub/usenet/news.answers/cats-faq. These
files will also appear in other sites that mirror the RTFM archives.
==========

Miscellaneous Information

Note: Please see the [1]Table of Contents FAQ for a complete list of
topics.
__________________________________________________ _______________

Author

Originally written 1991 & updated through 1997 by Cindy Tittle Moore.
Maintained by the Fanciers website as of July 1999.
__________________________________________________ _______________
Catnip and Valerian.

Catnip is a plant that causes various reactions in cats. Very young
cats and kittens will not be affected by catnip. About 20% of cats are
never affected by catnip. It is not known why or how catnip has the
effect it does on the rest of the cat population. It is a
non-addictive "recreational drug" for cats with no known harm to the
cat. There was an article in Science [exact reference?] on the
neurological effects of catnip on cats. It seems to stimulate the same
pleasure centers in the feline brain that orgasm does. Most cats
"mellow out" and become sleepy and happy, others start acting very
kittenish. A small percentage will become possessive of their catnip
and may snap or hiss at you.

You can find wild catnip plants in most weedy areas, and harvest the
seed. Or you can buy seed from companies like Burpees or Parks or
Northrup King -- most garden centers have catnip seed this time of
year -- check the "herb" section. Or even seed racks in the grocery
and discount stores.

Catnip is easy to grow. You will need to keep the plant itself out of
the reach of the cats as catnip-lovers will quickly destroy it. The
best strategy is to get some growing, and then pinch and prune it
regularly and give the harvested leaves to your cat. Keep it in its
own pot, as it will spread rapidly. Cats will tend to dig up
transplanted catnip and eat it roots and all, but are much gentler on
plants started from seed. The leaves have to be bruised to release the
odor, and transplanting seems to be enough bruising...

Nepeta cataria is the common catnip; other Nepeta species have varying
amounts of "active ingredient". A good one is Nepeta mussini, a
miniature-leaved catnip that makes a good rockgarden plant. Nepeta is
a genus of the Lamiaceae (=Labiatae), the mint family. There are about
250 species of catnip, plus a bunch of hybrids between species. Only
about 10 are available in this country, though.

No More Retail wrote:
Yes the smell of catnip will always be on the toys unless you chemical
bleach them. And I heard of catnip causing a cat to urinate catnip here is
how to think of a cat they are each unique just like humans they will all
react differently
I grow my own catnip it grows like a weed ought to see cats with fresh
catnip

The multiple posted (ASCII) parts of the FAQ are all archived at
rtfm.mit.edu
(18.181.0.24) in the directory /pub/usenet/news.answers/cats-faq. These
files will also appear in other sites that mirror the RTFM archives.
==========

Miscellaneous Information

Note: Please see the [1]Table of Contents FAQ for a complete list of
topics.
__________________________________________________ _______________

Author

Originally written 1991 & updated through 1997 by Cindy Tittle Moore.
Maintained by the Fanciers website as of July 1999.
__________________________________________________ _______________
Catnip and Valerian.

Catnip is a plant that causes various reactions in cats. Very young
cats and kittens will not be affected by catnip. About 20% of cats are
never affected by catnip. It is not known why or how catnip has the
effect it does on the rest of the cat population. It is a
non-addictive "recreational drug" for cats with no known harm to the
cat. There was an article in Science [exact reference?] on the
neurological effects of catnip on cats. It seems to stimulate the same
pleasure centers in the feline brain that orgasm does. Most cats
"mellow out" and become sleepy and happy, others start acting very
kittenish. A small percentage will become possessive of their catnip
and may snap or hiss at you.

You can find wild catnip plants in most weedy areas, and harvest the
seed. Or you can buy seed from companies like Burpees or Parks or
Northrup King -- most garden centers have catnip seed this time of
year -- check the "herb" section. Or even seed racks in the grocery
and discount stores.

Catnip is easy to grow. You will need to keep the plant itself out of
the reach of the cats as catnip-lovers will quickly destroy it. The
best strategy is to get some growing, and then pinch and prune it
regularly and give the harvested leaves to your cat. Keep it in its
own pot, as it will spread rapidly. Cats will tend to dig up
transplanted catnip and eat it roots and all, but are much gentler on
plants started from seed. The leaves have to be bruised to release the
odor, and transplanting seems to be enough bruising...

Nepeta cataria is the common catnip; other Nepeta species have varying
amounts of "active ingredient". A good one is Nepeta mussini, a
miniature-leaved catnip that makes a good rockgarden plant. Nepeta is
a genus of the Lamiaceae (=Labiatae), the mint family. There are about
250 species of catnip, plus a bunch of hybrids between species. Only
about 10 are available in this country, though.